EMI catalogue available on iTunes this week?

According to French sources familiar with the negotiations, Apple is preparing to launch EMI's DRM-free catalogue later this week on its iTunes platform.

The sources said the delay was due to Apple's desire to offer the entire catalogue at launch. The companies' technicians are "simply in the later stages of encoding and hosting the files before they go live," the contact says.

The deal requires that the new albums be offered as 256Kpbs AAC files and without Apple's FairPlay DRM.

Both Apple and EMI confirmed they would like to have the catalogue available by the end of the month.